Automotive vehicles include numerous electrically powered devices, many of which are connected to related devices and to a vehicle power circuit by means of wiring harnesses. A wiring harness typically terminates in a multi-pin electrical connector which plugs into a junction block. The junction block commonly comprises a molded plastic case containing a printed circuit board (PCB), and one or more wiring harness connectors make contact with circuit traces on the PCB by means of conventionally known edge connectors and/or surface connectors.
The various electrical devices of an automotive vehicle are often subjected to quality control testing during the manufacture of the vehicle. This typically involves connecting the wiring harness leading to one or more devices to an electrical continuity tester, a device which applies electrical current to the devices via the wiring harness and checks the circuits of the devices for proper voltage drops and other circuit parameters. Similar electrical continuity testing is sometimes also necessary during routine maintenance and/or trouble-shooting of vehicle system malfunctions after the vehicle has left the factory.
Electrical continuity testing traditionally has required that any wiring harness already operatively connected with the junction block be disconnected therefrom so that it may be re-connected to the tester. After the continuity test procedure is complete, the wiring harness connector must be disconnected from the tester and reconnected to the junction block. A drawback of this procedure is that it requires multiple disconnections and re-connections of the wiring harness connector undergoing the test. This is a time consuming and labor-intensive process that adds to the cost of the test procedure. Another drawback to the above-described test procedure is that it raises the possibility that the wiring harness connector will be improperly re-connected to the junction block at the end of the test. In such a case of improper re-connection, a positive result on the just-completed continuity test may be negated, and there will be no indication of the poor connection until the subject devices begin to malfunction during use.